I Was Beginning to Think You Had Forgotten About Me
by Trudyann B
Summary: Eike has lost his memory, as he does every ten years, and Margarette and Hugo notice the absence of Hugo's time machine. It's time for them to get some answers. (Sequel to "It Was Either That or Another Digipad," though you don't really need to read it first to understand what's going on.)
1. Chapter 1

**I Was Beginning to Think You Had Forgotten About Me**

**By Trudyann B.  
Rated Kplus**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or settings. All rights belong to Konami games.**

**ENDING E (With allusions to other endings)**

**Sequal to ****It Was Either That Or Another Digipad**

**Author's Note**

**1.19.2014 5:15:49**

An irresponsibly undercooked sequel with an equally lengthy title? It's about time. After almost exactly a six year hiatus, I return to _Shadow of Memories_ with the feeling that these characters have so much more to offer. I have been struggling with my writing and lack of inspiration for these past six years. I have realized I am not a writer by nature, but I have also realized that I am brought to life by interesting characters. I want to create a plot worth your time, and I am hoping that however much of this fanfiction I am able to finish, I will at least be able to bring you some intrigue, and breath some life into the characters you already appreciate.

**CHAPTER 1**

**8.2.2002 2:36:11**

"Bahahahaha! That's Eike for you! Classic. I knew you were into Alchemy recently, but isn't changing your name to match a former alchemist a bit much?" The barkeeper boomed, hitting the skinny blonde on the shoulder far too many times for comfort.

Eike sipped his whiskey sour incredulously, genuinely confused by the familiarity with which the older gentleman treated him. He coughed and sputtered at the feel of the beverage in his throat.

"Thought that would be a little strong for you." The barman replaced the whiskey with a glass of stout and downed the rest himself, slamming the empty glass on the counter with a wink. He joked with the man next to Eike. "He's been a little blonde boy since the day I met him eleven years ago when I took over the business. Whatever fountain of eternal youth he found, I want in."

Eike was very confused, but he liked the stout much better. He took a few strong gulps before placing the glass back on the counter with a smile.

Having wandered aimlessly around town, Eike had picked up a few facts about his life. First, he lived in Lebensbaum, where, despite the name there were very few trees, but a nice amount of flowers. Next, the rent was due to the landlady in a week and miraculously, Eike had enough to pay for it, though he still had no idea how he had come by it. Third, his name was Eike Kusch, not Alphons Gadspy as he originally believed. Fourth, he was fairly well known around town as a nice man who looked younger than he was. In his wanderings he had stumbled across a bar and found enough money in his pocket to pay for a drink, which is exactly what he felt like doing at a time like this. It now seemed that the barkeeper was a long lasting friend of his. Perhaps this could be okay. Maybe, if he was clever, he could figure out who he was, gain some clue that would negate his amnesia, without even letting on that something in his head was very wrong. Finishing his drink, he requested another.

"It's a little early for that much to drink, isn't it? Did your girlfriend dump you or something?" The barman filled another glass and handed it to a stunned Eike.

"What girlfriend!?" He hadn't forgotten about someone so important in his life, had he? He wracked his brain for people he had known before today, but no one came to mind. No parents, no siblings, no girlfriend.

"Now now, I know you two keep saying you're not involved, but we're starting to wonder here, why not, man? Dana's a beautiful woman! And she's single! Put a ring on it before she gets bored with you!"

Dana. Who was Dana? Before he knew it the glass in his fist was once again empty. This was the most alarming day he could ever remember having. He needed to figure this out, and soon. His head felt a bit fuzzy as he pondered ways to ask about his life without arousing suspicion.

"What do I do for a living?" He asked hazily. The bartender laughed again. Eike could only assume there was a joke he had missed. Surely he was very subtle in his questioning just then.

"Either you're joking, boy, or we need to watch your alcohol consumption a bit more carefully than usual. Say, have you eaten anything lately?" The blonde man looked at him with eyes that lacked comprehension. The bartender's mood slowly turned over on its head, as he became less amused and more concerned.

"Eh, boy, do you have someone to take care of you? Eckart? Dana? Merriam?"

"Who, who and who?" Eike responded. This turned the man's mood even more sour.

"Scheisse. Don't tell me, Eike. It's been at least a decade since the last time this happened. Don't tell me you're having a relapse."

"Relapse…" The tall blonde man pondered these words while looking into his beer glass, swirling the remaining amber fluid that had collected in the very bottom. Did the bartender know more about Eike's memory loss than he did?

"Can you remember my name, Eike?" He asked, hoping beyond all hope that his deduction was wrong. It had taken a good year for Eike to remember enough to get by last time. It was like he was a different person sometimes. Eike looked into the man's eyes, squinted, concentrated, he even tried curling his toes, but no name came to him.

"John Smith?" The bartender frowned. Poor Dana. They were just starting to know each other, it had seemed. After years of distancing himself from everyone, Eike was just starting to make a lasting friend again.

It's Marcel. My name is Marcel," He sighed. "I'll be right back." Eike studied the glass he was holding once again.

Suppose he had gone to the café he had passed instead. Perhaps he would order coffee. Or did he like tea more? He wondered if anyone would have known him there. Perhaps his life would have spun out completely differently had he entered the café and ordered a beverage, chatted up the waitress. He imagined that option as a ribbon, flowing parallel to the current events. At first the ribbons would be so close they could touch, but as time progressed, they would shoot further from each other, only to reach any closer a proximity if Eike left his money on the table and walked over to the café. What brought about these thoughts? Black boots flashed across his memory, black boots and the color red. He blinked. He pushed his glass away. He had had too much perhaps.

Marcel hung up the phone after conversing on it for several minutes. He waked over to Eike soberly and exhaled, obviously disturbed by something. Eike's hazy mind assumed it was him.

"Do you remember your therapist, doctor Wright?" Eike frowned. If he had memory problems before, the fact that he had a therapist, and that the local bartender knew as much, did not promise a quick recovery time.

**9.15.1593 12:11:52**

"Margarette!" Hugo, barged into his sister's flat, not even bothering to wipe his feet on the placemat or take off his coat. He dripped through the halls, looking for her.

"Hugo, what have I told you about knocking?" Margarette, in her late thirties and still as beautiful as ever, had been sewing, a black dog was perched on her lap. It surveyed him lazily.

"Why bother? It's not like I'll find you tangled in a man's arms," He said casually, throwing his wet jacket on the floor and taking a seat next to his sister. The dog jumped down from Margarette's lap and walked over to the jacket. She began to lick the moisture off of it.

"Learn some respect, Hugo!" Margaret replied, slightly hurt. She put her work down on her lap. She pondered throwing some yarn from the basket next to her at his face.

"What's disrespectful about telling the truth? You're an old maid, sis. It wouldn't hurt for you to go on a date for once!" Hugo got a faceful of yarn for that comment. The dog coughed out a bark, sensing her mistress's unhappiness. Hugo sighed. In all honesty, he just wanted to see his sister less lonely, but he didn't know how to change her mind about trying to find someone.

"What did you come here for anyway? Just to insult me?"

"No, not exactly. My daughter told me this morning that she saw a tall blonde green-eyed man." Margarette stood instantly, eyes wide. Seeing an opportunity, the dog jumped onto her chair, savoring the warm spot she had left behind.

"Where?" Margarette asked.

"He had broken into my basement and stolen something."

"What? Eike would never do something like that!"

Hugo smiled at that. "Who said anything about Eike?"

Margarette frowned for a moment, averting her eyes. "Well, C'mon, Hugo. Don't tell me you hadn't thought that's who she described."

"There are lots of tall, green-eyed, blonde men out there, Sis," He reminded her, waving his hand in the air at the description. Margarette looked embarrassed until she caught Hugo barely able to hold in a chuckle. She smiled too.

"You jerk, you're just teasing me. You know it was him." She shoved his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think it was," he admitted.

It had seemed so long ago. The brother and sister had traveled through time. Hugo had attempted to murder Eike, and had threatened his friend, Dana, thinking that Eike had masterminded a plot to destroy their family. In the end, Margret had been the one to talk Hugo out of his dark path, and steer his ambition toward more responsible goals. The two had returned to their own time with strengthened family bonds, and Margarette had left the man she fell for with the blonde woman he had fallen for.

Margarette was the first to break away from the reverie of the past. "What did your daughter see him steal?"

Hugo hesitated. He had let Margarette believe that he had destroyed his time machine long ago. Little did she know that he had actually disassembled it in order to find out how it worked, to eventually create a better one.

"My old time machine. He stole the pieces of my old time machine." Margarette's mouth fell agape, processing what Hugo meant.

"You didn't destroy it…" She mumbled, before her voice strengthened and became indignant, "You told me you destroyed it!"

"I was hoping you'd give up on going back, that you'd make yourself a life here, where you belong, with me! I didn't expect you to become a spinster!"

Margarette pursed her lips. Even after turning his life around, her brother remained selfish and inconsiderate. He would talk of wanting to see her happy, but he had kept from her the path to happiness.

But that wasn't true. Eike knew the time machine was still here. Eike had visited this time. And Eike had left without even trying to find her. It was as if he was personally trying to get rid of any chances of seeing her again. Did she come off as that clingy? She could cry, but she caught herself.

No. She didn't care. She had a perfectly good life here. She was following her passion, making beautiful ornate dresses, and helping people feel prettier and more confident. She was a revolutionary seamstress. Those who had mocked her for her strange habits now praised her for her artistry and her unconventional beliefs. Lebensbaum had accepted her and her business was booming. No man, not even one as charming as he, would take that from her.

"Well I did give up," she said, raising her chin. "And I'm very happy here. Where I belong. Sasha agrees." The dog, hearing her name, looked up and started to wag her tail happily.

"Right." Hugo said. "I'm sorry, sis. I was going to tell you eventually."

"What for?" Margarette reminded herself of her own reasons as she spoke, "Eike is with someone he cares about, and I'm doing well for myself here." This was her mantra every night she was lonely. Yes, she had gone on dates, she had looked around, but Lebensbaum was short on respectable men, and the only times she ever felt happy with a man was when he did something that reminded her of Eike, a rare occurrence that was always gone much too quickly for her taste.

"But that still leaves the question," she said, still playing aloof, "what was he doing here anyway? If he was already here, what could he want with your time machine?"

"He wasn't alone." Hugo's voice tightened. "A small, pale man was with him, one with ruby-red eyes, who went by the name of Homunculus." The fire in Hugo's eyes had not been that strong in a long time, and for a moment Margarette remembered her little brother as he once was, power hungry, with a knife at his hostage's throat, believing he could bring back the dead if he wanted it hard enough. She had not heard the name Homunculus in years.

She grasped his shoulders. "Hugo, you're scaring me," she admitted. He made eye contact with her and the fire inside him calmed to gentle embers.

"I'm sorry. Don't worry. I don't want to go back to that misguided life. But I do want to find out what he's doing with that Demon again. I want to know why the hell he would make alliances with that scum in the first place, let alone now. Most importantly, I want to find out the whole truth."

"What do you mean, Hugo?" Margarette inquired stepping back from her brother.

"Don't you want to know what actually happened to our father? What Eike was really doing in all of that mess, how he got a time machine in the first place? How he evaded all of my attacks—" Margarette gave him a look of superb unease. "—which I regret—" he interjected. She settled. "—and what this Homunculus creature really wants anyway?"

Margarette pondered this. "I am curious," she admitted. "But how would you suppose we find all this out, especially without a time machine?"

Hugo tisked at his sister's question. "Ye of little faith. I said he took my old time machine." With this, he reached into his back pocket and brought out a slick, wallet-like structure with a dial on its face. "-not my new one."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**

**01.21.2014 6:51:59**

Hello, lovely readers! If there are any readers… I'm back with another installment of "Forgotten About Me." Yes, I'm still going for it, though if I don't get any reviews by chapter 3, I might assume no one's reading and stop publishing. I'm guessing after this many years, there aren't many SoD fans left. Haha Oh well. If you like this story, let me know and I'll keep going. I'm having fun writing it.

**CHAPTER 2**

**0.0.0000 00:00:00**

"The one day of the decade where you have to be on top of things, and you overbooked. Tsk Tsk, Homunculus, you're slipping." The creature sat on his door, listening to his own voice bounce off the lonely walls of his little home as he chided himself. He couldn't help but appreciate the ring to it. When one spends immortality alone, one tends to appreciate one's own company.

It was such a silly mistake. He really should be angrier at himself. Having been so busy during Eike's memory reset, Homunculus hadn't had time to erase memories of Eike from anyone else's mind in Lebensbaum. Sure, he was fine with letting it go every now and again. In fact, it amused him to watch Eike realize from his friends and coworkers that he was insane. However, two times in a row simply wouldn't do. After twenty years together, the barkeeper and psychiatrist would be sure to notice that Eike's eternal youth was more than just good genes. Homunculus muttered a long-winded incantation in order to clear the pychiatrist's memories of Eike's appearance. Records would also need to be changed. It was exhausting, really, keeping up with it all, and it took a lot of time to get it all done. All the while, he pondered setting up an accident for Marcel. He was thankful that the tall blonde didn't often make close friends.

After he was sure that the psychiatrist would not find Eike's age alarming, the demon waved his arm and the scene in his window of a beautiful sunset changed to a scene wherein Hugo flashed a shiny little compact time machine at his sister. Homunculus smiled, though there was a hint of disbelief deep behind his crimson irises.

"That sneaky little bugger," Homunculus voiced, in some language or other. He had lost track of which one he was using. "When did he make that?" The creature thought back to what he had seen Hugo do. He had disassembled the time machine, and taken notes on how to put it back together. Homunculus had watched Hugo's daughter find the notes and rebuild it. That was the future he and Eike had been busy negating when Eike's memory reset. Nowhere in Homunculus' memories was a pocket-sized man-made time machine created. He could almost laugh at the absurdity of its existence.

Homunculus nearly liked Hugo. The little blonde boy he used to know was clever and resourceful, and extremely ambitious. He was as close to an opponent as Homunculus got, especially in a human. It was a shame when he went soft and wimpy all those years ago. His sister had brainwashed him with human values like love and family. What an awful way to waste one's brain cells. In the window, Hugo turned over the device and Homunculus took note of a pentagram etched on the back. "The brat won't let me confiscate that one."

Homunculus pondered the possible outcomes of this human-made digipad. There were quite a few variations, several of which too close to his own demise for comfort. This simply would not do.

**8.2.2002 5:04:10**

Margarette had only felt time travel twice before. It gave her the feeling of weightlessness, followed by a sensory overload: sights, smells, and sounds, until it all formed a great hum and a white light of such intensity that it shocked her pupils even when her eyes were tightly shut. She felt nothing with her skin, but literally everything with her eyes and ears. Then, so soon, the humming and light ceased, and gravity once again exerted its dominance with a sudden finality. They landed on the same street they had departed from—a back alley, but the sky was decidedly brighter and the weather balmier. This was not the rainy, cold, renaissance November they had left behind. This was the summer of an entirely new Millennium—one in which they did not belong.

"Wow." The future always took her breath away with desire: the strangely designed signs, the cleanliness of the cobbled streets, the strange pod-like things on wheels. "It's all so beautiful."

Hugo sighed. He took it all in with tired eyes. He had spent quite a lot of time here, and he no longer approved of what he had done. Home was innocence, where bad things happened to you. This awful place was where bad things were his fault.

As they emerged from the back alley, they saw some girls chatting on the corner. One was wearing trousers that reached only passed her knees before tapering off, leaving her calves and ankles open to the air. Another wore a black skirt that stopped far above her knees. It was scandalous! Margarette decided that she would create a skirt like that for herself, if only to wear at home. The colors and fabrics the girls were wearing were also shocking.

"Looks like my dress designs are ahead of their time, Hugo." Margarette said, smiling. A blonde girl in black slacks and a red vest who was talking amongst the group heard her and turned.

"Damn!" Hugo said, and turned away quickly, but he had already been recognized. Margarette's eyes widened.

"Hugo, isn't that—"

"Do I know you?" the blonde girl grabbed Hugo's shoulder and turned him around, then stepped back in shock.

"You're that guy that tried to kill me!" Hugo's eyes remained averted. He threw up his hands.

"I'm not the kid I used to be. I don't wanna hurt anybody," he replied, looking more like a kid than he did in a long time.

"You're the girl Eike was looking for," Margarette said to the blonde. She couldn't bring herself to say that she was his girlfriend, or maybe wife by now.

"Dana, is everything alright?" One of the group of girls asked her. Dana looked back and waved off their concern.

"I'll be alright. I'll catch up to you later," she replied. The girls shrugged and walked off together. Dana turned back to Margarette and Hugo. "What are you two doing here? Last I heard from you, you were off to rebuild a shattered family with a time machine or something," she looked them up and down, "which could explain the clothes."

"Oh if only I could get my hands on clothing like yours. Though perhaps I would add some prettier fabrics in the same vibrant colors," Margarette couldn't help herself. She lived with fabrics and stitches all day long.

Dana smiled, "I don't know how you would be so quick to give up such a gorgeous dress."

Margarette blushed, "Oh this thing? I made it years ago."

"No way, you made this?!" Dana moved to look more closely at the dress. 

"Enough girl talk, huh?"

"Excuse me, Hugo. This is not just girl talk. This is business talk. Never forget who made that vest you're wearing," Margarette snapped back.

Hugo exhaled, exasperated. "Whatever. Can we just get on with finding Eike and Homunculus, please?"

"Eike and… Homunculus?" Dana repeated, testing out the strange word. "I've heard that name before from you. You don't think Eike still has some magic bean, do you?"

Hugo pursed his lips. He wasn't the kind of guy who liked talking to the ignorant, even if it wasn't their fault. It tended to slow him down. "Stone. And no, he doesn't have the stone, but he definitely knows someone related. C'mon, Margaret."

The brother and sister turned their backs on Dana, and Margarette threw her a farewell gesture, but Dana cut in, "I know where he lives." Margarette didn't generally want to know that, but she supposed it was a fairly good lead, objectively. They turned back toward Dana.

"Can you take us there?" She asked. Dana frowned. Perhaps she had gotten ahead of herself. Who was she to bring Eike's former murderer to his door, even if he was with the girl who tamed him?

"Why don't I call him?" She took out her mobile and pressed a button, putting it to her ear. She turned her shoulder back to her two companions. Margarette was bewildered. This was a small city, but surely it wasn't small enough to just yell across.

"Hey, Eike—" Dana said in her normal speaking voice.

"Looks like she's got him on speed dial, sis. That's bad news for you," Hugo joked. Margarette was thoroughly confused.

**8.2.2002 5:13:21, 5:13:22, 5:13:23, 5:13:24…**

Eike was in a waiting room, watching the clock tick by. How many psychiatric patients could the town therapist have? It's not like it was a very big city.

His phone began buzzing in his pocket. He looked at the caller recognition. Dana. That would be that girl the bartender was teasing him about. He wondered what she looked like, and how well he was supposed to know her. Were they just casual friends? Was he trying to ask her out? He picked up the phone.

"Hey, Dana," he greeted, trying to remain cool and open-ended.

"Hi, Eike. Listen, Hugo and Margarette are here," Dana replied. Damn. More people Eike was supposed to know. What should he do? Ask who they were? Were they people he spoke to regularly? Why the hell did he have to forget who he was today!?

"Uhuh," He said nonchalantly.

"Like _the_ Hugo and Margarette," there was talking on the other end of the line, "—from the 16th century?" What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was that code or something?

"Uhmm… yeah," Eike replied.

"Eike please tell me you remember the guy who tried to kill you at least five times." That did not sound like code.

"What?!" No wonder he was so messed up in the head, he thought to himself. Perhaps he was trying to forget some awful trauma. But if someone that dangerous was with Dana, someone he cared about…

"Dana, get out of there! Are you hurt? Are you being kept hostage? Do I need to give him money or something?" The receptionist in the office, used to a quiet conversation on the phone now and again, jumped up when she heard these exclamations.

**8.2.2002 5:15:52**

Hugo heard the shouting over the phone and winced. He wished Dana had been able to leave that part out. Was it really so difficult for Eike to remember Hugo? He wondered how long it had been since they had first left. Dana looked a little bit older, but only by a few years. It wasn't like Eike could be senile. Did he always go on adventures of daring where people were trying to kill him? Hugo realized he knew very little about the tall blonde man.

"No, no. It's nothing like that, Eike. Don't you remember anything about when we first met? The time travel, the four years I was gone, the kid who tried to kill me, his sister who made him change his mind, the happily ever after? Does any of this ring a bell?" She couldn't believe it was this difficult to communicate with him today. She and Eike were always on the same page. She waited for Eike to explain something away in the background before replying. Dana grimaced at his question.

"Yes, the happily ever after means he's harmless right now. How can you not remember that?"

"I swear, I just want to talk to him!" Hugo interjected.

"He says he just wants to talk to you," Dana repeated into the phone.

**0.0.0000 00:00:00**

This was an amusing conversation. It truly was. But Homunculus knew that if this situation went any farther, he was going to have to be put through so much more trouble. Erasing Eike's memories was tricky business. He could severe all connections to Eike's memories for tehn years, and over time, Eike would overwrite those memories and make new connections, but was any memory truly lost? No. It was built into the circuitry of Eike's brain somewhere. If he was reminded too soon of who he used to be, he might stumble across his old memories before he was able to make new ones. Then Homunculus might have another ten years of Eike knowing who he is on his hands. Ten more years wherein Eike would have free reign to try to find Homunculus, to find his family, to be happy. There was one thing Homunculus did not want Eike to feel, and that was fulfillment. He, who cursed Homunculus for doing his job; who resented him for granting him his wishes; who hated him for saving his life.

"And humans think I'm twisted," the red eyed creature cooed in self-pity, before chuckling to himself. "I'll scare these children away from their quest in no time. I think this calls for some good, old fashioned theatrics."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**8.2.2002 5:17:01**

Dana hung up her phone. "Something's wrong with him. We used to talk about you two all the time. I don't understand how he could forget you." She looked at Margarette in particular.

Suddenly, a loud drone cut through the air, one which reminded all three of them of time travel, of the relationship between different times, when referring to space. Each one of them had thought on it and come to their own conclusions, but some facts were undeniable, such as the existence of a creature who could willingly traverse it all.

"Father!" a young teenage girl, fell into her father's arms.

"Leena?" Hugo sputtered. What was his daughter doing here, now? "How—how did you find me?"

"I followed you!" The girl handed a digipad to Hugo. "You must come home, Father! Mother just collapsed!" Hugo's eyes widened with fear. Those were his mother's first symptoms years and years ago when she had fallen ill. His father had spent the years of Helena's sickness brooding in the basement over possible cures. Hugo, on the other hand, had promised himself he would hardly leave his mother's side, and spend as much time with her as possible. It would be the same now. His heart plummeted into his stomach. Could his delightful and energetic wife really have fallen ill with the same mysterious disease?

"Why now?" He said aloud, agony ringing in his voice. He looked to his sister for comfort, but Margarette was busy looking elsewhere, at his daughter. "Margarette, we have to go, now!"

"Leena, is that really you?" The brunette woman asked. The digipad. She had seen its likeness in Eike's hand before. It looked ancient and middle-eastern, not like Hugo's device at all. Not only that, but Leena's eyes didn't make any sense. They were looking right into the sun, yet they were dilated and did not reflect any light.

"We must hurry!" Leena responded. There was no feeling in her voice, no passion in her eyes as she looked at Margarette.

"Hugo, I don't think that's Leena," Margarette said, but Hugo was already disappearing in a haze of misery and smoke, hanging on to the likeness of his little girl. Margarette screamed, trying to grab him, but he was intangible. Her hand went right through him. He disappeared.

"Always the observant one, Margarette," came an otherwordly voice. It penetrated their ears from every angle, leaving the two remaining girls whirling, looking for the culprit.

"Tell me, was it the eyes? I can never get the eyes right." Clip, clop came light footsteps from the shadows. A small, pale man with bright red eyes emerged, smirking at the brilliance of his own plan, and not about to tell Margarette that she was supposed to be fooled too. What was he going to do with her?

"Well it was a beautiful family reunion," he said, looking at Dana and enjoying the confusion playing across her features, "much better than the last one, but alas, all good things must end. Margarette, I can take you home to your brother now." He held out his hand.

She stepped back. "Where is he?"

"He is perfectly safe at home, where he belongs, and without a time machine. Nothing survives that spell except the person transported by it, I'm afraid. But I can't very well just get rid of a soul. He had to go somewhere, and so he's home. I helped him, really. Now he can check on his family, and take care of them as he should be doing. You can understand how travelling through time without any guidance can have nasty repercussions on people's fates, can't you?"

Margarette thought about it. She supposed she didn't belong here, even if it felt so right to be here, and Eike didn't really want to see her anyway. She stepped closer to the demon.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"I promise you and your brother both safety if you resume your lives as normal and forget about all this," Homunculus said. That didn't sit right with Margarette. What right did this glorified magician have to keep her ignorant?

"I thought you said my brother was safe," she responded. 

Homunculus rolled his eyes. Humans could get so tangled up in details. Yes, her brother was fine, but it sounded better to promise them both safety, rather than just her. "You will be safe then." He outstretched his hand again.

"Margarette," Dana chimed in, grasping her hand, "I wouldn't trust him."

Margarette studied Homunculus closely. He looked honest, but he also looked like a man who wouldn't particularly care if she decided to jump off a cliff.

She then studied Dana, who seemed like the kind of person who would be deeply moved if anyone decided to jump off a cliff. Dana squeezed Margaret's hand with unease. The brunette girl had her answer. She looked back to the demon.

"You're right," she said to him, "You never really can get the eyes right."

She ran, pulling the blonde stranger along behind her.

The demon sighed. It could never be easy, could it? He began to focus his magic. Moving targets were twice as difficult. He should have just moved her wile she was standing there, but he had reasoned that if Margarette chose to go, it would be a less memorable experience for Dana, who would less likely report it to Eike. Of course now, it would be very memorable. Maybe he should just put them both in the past. It's where Dana belonged anyway, and Eike, her closest friend, and unbeknownst to either of them, her father, wouldn't even miss her.

Dana and Margarette turned a corner. A football aimed right at Margarette suddenly vanished from existence, leaving the boys who had been kicking it around on the streets flustered and puzzled. Margarette let out a small squeak of fear, and quickly turned, running the other way, Dana on her heals. Her legs carried her down the streets the same way they would when she was a little girl, afraid of the dark, or afraid of the wrath of her father if she returned home after curfew.

Homunculus frowned. They were heading to a very particular place. He was going to have to stop them. They turned a final corner and skidded to a panicked stop, Just in front of the door that they were about to enter was the very person they were running from.

"Hello, girls." Homunculus said with a wicked grin. "Now please keep running. There's nowhere in this town where I can't find you." They stood paralyzed by fear. "Okay then, have it your way and stay still." They felt themselves float above the ground, and then Dana and Margarette vanished from existence.

**8.2.2002 5:21:22**

When reality and gravity finally hit them again, they were inside a gutted house. The walls and floor were coated with ugly cement. An electric lamp buzzed in the corner, and a girl, sitting on a crate and playing with something on her wrist, looked up at them.

"Leena?" Margaret said, shocked. And this was actually Leena. The girl, dirty blonde hair tied back, donned in black skinny jeans, red boots, and a loose sleeveless shirt, was the picture of a millennial teen, and yet Margarette knew that she was born in the sixteenth century where, even in trendy Lebensbaum, clothing like that could get her thrown in prison.

"Awesome!" Leena said, "It just might work, then!" She looked back down at the dials and buttons of the thing on her wrist. "But how?" The girl mumbled to herself. There was some red light outside the door, then Dana and Margaret saw themselves outside of the window skid to a halt. Dana gasped. Leena hushed her with a finger over her mouth. Dana and Margarette were in the house, sitting with this girl, but they were also right there, on the street, looking scared for their life, and as if they had just run a mile. The women looked at each other, then back out the window. Leena pressed a few more buttons on her wrist and the pair of women outside disappeared.

Homunculus frowned. That looked like time travel, but he didn't do it. He expanded his senses through time and space, but the current Dana and Margarette were nowhere to be found. How could that be? Who had bested him? Who had a time machine capable of reaching out to others? Was it another of his kind? Homunculus cursed in a foreign tongue and vanished to his lair to think on this interesting turn of events.

Leena exhaled loudly. "Hi, Auntie Margarette, and…" she gave Dana a once-over, "you look familiar. Have we met before?" Dana frowned, wracking her memory.

"Not that I know of," the older blonde responded.

Leena sighed. "Oh well. You know how time travel goes. You see a lot of new faces."

"Leena, how did you get here?" Margarette asked.

"An excellent question!" Leena provided, as a prologue to what Margarette hoped would be an answer. "I was sort of drawn to Grandma and Gramp's place," She said, motioning to their surroundings. "It just feels right to do experiments here."

"Experiments?" Dana asked.

"Experiments in time travel!" The teenager wiggled her fingers dramatically. "Good thing, too, because it looks like that red-eyed-thing can't get in this place. Dunno why. It's not like there are any pentagrams here."

"Leena, you're talking really fast," Margarette reminded her, "And you're not making all that much sense."

"Sorry. I just get really excited about it all. Anyway, Father told me to come and get you, so we should go home now."

"Hugo _is _safe," Margarette sighed with relief. She was never really sure if the demon was telling the truth.

"Oh yeah." Leena said. "No worries. But when he told me he fell for a trick like that… Well to be completely honest, he wanted my receiver," she pointed at the device on her wrist, "to come save you. But I said no way! I mean, not when he got the last one I built destroyed on his way back here! I came to help you myself."

"You built the time machines?" Another question Leena was more than proud to answer.

"Close. I built a time machine, and two receivers. The time machine is in the basement." She stomped. "Actually, I don't know if it's still here. But, as long as it existed at some point, my receivers can tap into it." She said this with an extremely proud look on her face. Margarette smiled. So, all along Hugo's daughter was the real mastermind. Vast distances away, in a place void of time, someone else was beginning to realize the same thing.


End file.
